Vending machine



4 Sheets-Sheet 1 JOH N SCHEN DO RF vBY ATTORNEY Aug. 9, 1960 I. GOLDBERT EIAL VENDING MACHINE Filed July 27, 1956 8- 1. LGOLDBERT EII'AL 2,948,378

VENDING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 27, 1956 FIG.

JOHN SCHENDORF IRVING GOLDBERT INVENTORS ATTOR EY Aug. 9, 1960 GOLDBERT ETAL 2,948,378

' VENDING MACHINE Filed July 27, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 5 \z I JOHN SCHENDORF C IRVING GOLDBERT INVENTORS A FIG. 4 BY r A TORNEY Aug. 9, 1960 GOLDBERT ETAL 2,943,378

VENDING MACHINE I Filed July 27, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 H Hllll'ii;

HlllIiii: "'HHHlh. HHE:

. FIG. 5 1

JOHN SCHENDORF IRVING GOLDBERT INVENTOR;

BY AT ORNEY 2,948,378 1C6 Patented Aug. 9, 1960 VENDING MACHINE Irving Goldbert, Mountainside, and John Henry Schen-' dorf, Metuchen, N.J.; said Schendorf assignor to said Goldbert Our invention relates to coin operated merchandising machines of the semi-automatic type and in particular to the mechanism for selectively controlling the sale of goods having a varying monetary value. a V

Heretofore many machines have been developed for the purpose of vending such items as candy and cigarettes but these machines are complex, costly to manufacture and diflicult to repair because of their great number of moving parts. g V a U 7 One of the objects of our invention is to provide a vending machine having a minimum number of parts so that it may be cheaply manufactured and easily repaired.

Another object of our invention is to provide a vending machine in which the coins inserted into it become an integral part of the operating mechanism of the machine thus not only serving to unlock the vending mechanism but also serving as a portion of the mechanisrnitself. f

Another object of our invention is thC'Pl'OVlSiQll'Of a novel and simple mechanism for dispensing auxiliary products, such as book matches, in such sequential rotation from a series ofsupply bins that these bins need to be filled only oncein a great while, thus providing a great saving of time in the servicing of the' machine. V

' Another object of our invention is to provide a simple means whereby the cost-of the goods to be sold may.

be regulated by the simple addition or subtracton from one of the partsofthe machine. f v g 1 .Other objects and advantages-will'be apparent from the specifications and drawings -inwhich:--

Fig. 1, is a partial side elevation of the actuating mechanism of ourinvention. v v

Fig; 2, is an'isometric view of the mechanism shown in Fig.1.

Fig. 3, is a side elevation of the mechanismfor segmental ejection of auxiliary material from the machine.

Fig. 4, is a cross section taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5, is a front elevation of the mechanism shown isometrically in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, 5 is the base of the machine from which sides 6 extend upwardly. The entire length of the machine being divided into separate storage bins 7 and 8, these bins are only limited in number by the length of the machine. Bins 7 and 8 contain packaged merchandise 9 such as packages of cigarettes. Attached to the front of the machine in any suitable manner is a,

guide 10 having orifices 11 through which protrude operation plungers 12 and 12a, said operation plungers being held in alignment by the orifices 11.

Suitably affixed to the rear end of the operation plungers are depending fingers 13 and 13a. The operation plungers are adapted to be moved laterally in the orifices 11 carrying with them the fingers 13 or 13a, as the case may be, and in its forward movement 13 will contact rocker arm bar 14, and 13a in its forward movement will contact both rocker arm bar 14 and 14a for a purpose which later will be explained. As bar 14 ascends in an arc forced forward by 13 or 13a it is locked in position r side 6 at 24 and 24a.

by encountering lock pin 15 or 15a depending from operation plunger 12 or 12a. The arcuate movement of the bars 14 and 14a is caused by their downwardly turned ends 16 and 16a swiveling on pivot bars 17 and 17a rotatably mounted in any suitable manner on the side piece 6; thus it will be seen that bar 14 on being impelled forward by 13 when plunger 12 is actuated, locks bar 14 between 15 and 13 at the top of its arcuate movement and 13 being shorter than 13a passes over 14a. However, when 14a is moved forward under the impetus of 13a it carreis 14 forward also; but here again the arcuate movement of 14 and 14a allows 14 to sweep past lock pin 15 on 12 until the top of the arc is reached when 14 is locked between 15a and 13a on 12a.

Above the pivot bars 17 and 17a are projections 18 and 18a which fit into elongated slots 19 and 19a located in one end of cam bases 20 and 20a; so that movement of bar 14 forward causes forward movement of cam base 20 and forward movement of bar 14a causes a forward movement of cam base 20a.

Cam bases 20 and 20a are identical each having cam slots 21 and 21a arranged so that when cam bases 20 and 20a are to the rear, projections 22 and 22a on cam followers 23 and 23a drop by gravity into the forward ends of the cam slots by reason of their being pivoted to It may now be seen that unless coins are present behind cam follower pins 22 and 22a, movement of the cam bases is stopped by the followers pins striking the rear of cam slots 21 and 2111. This effectively prevents not only movement of the cam base butlmoveme'nt of bars 14 and 14a and plungers 12 and 12a. However, when coins are present behind projections '22.and 22a the projections areforced to ride up the surface of the coins out of slots 21 and 21a until they ride in elongated carrier, slots 25 and 25a which extend'to the rear of the cam bases; thus permitting the cam bases to move forward and in their forward movement small pins'26 and 26a move the coins forward until they are free to drop by gravity into a coin receptacle box. On completion of the forward movement of the cam bases a release of the pull on either plungers 12 or 12a returns the cam bases to their rearward position by the tension of the return spring 27 acting on bar 14, which because of its position in front of bar- 14a, carries bar 14a and its associated linkage parts rearwardly to the start position, Spring 27 is connecteclat any con: venient location to the rear of bars 14 and 14a, to side v6.

Referring to Fig. l lever arm 28 is pivotally connected to cam base 20 at one end and at'its other end to rocker lever 29. The rocker lever is in turn pivoted to frame end 6 at 30 and is so disposed that a downward pull on 28 causes pivoted dogs 31 and 32 to rotate ratchet wheel 33 one quarter revolution each time cam base 20 moves forward since dog 31 advances the ratchet one notch or one eighth turn and on the return of cam base 20 dog 32 advances the ratchet one eighth turn.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawing we see that ratchet wheel 33 is attached at 34 by any suitable means, to square drive rod 35 and this rod has snugly fitted over it four trip cams 36, 37, 38, 39, said trip cams being punched into an eight pointed star shape at their center so that these earns 36 and 37, 38 and 39 may be mounted at 45 degree angles to each other. These cams are mounted so that they are centered in slots 40 of leaf trigger spring 41 firmly mounted on base 5 so that as drive rod 35 turns and reaches the limit of cocking of the top end of leaf spring 41 a book of matches is exposed by gravity feed to the end of the spring and as the end of a trip cam passes further in its arcuate travel the spring is released enabling it to shoot a single pack of matches into the vending chute,

It will be understood that since there are four trip cams mounted on rod 35 at 45 angles to each other that this will produce a sequential release from four match bins mounted above the trip springs.

Referring again to Fig. 1 of the drawing it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the packages of cigarettes or other goods to be vended rest on the top of plungers 12 or 12a so that when these plungers are pulled out to their maximum extent one package drops down and is presented to the end 42 of the plunger allowing the plunger to push this package into a delivery shoot when return spring 27 pulls the plunger back into its starting position.

it will now be seen that plunger finger 13 is shorter than plunger finger 13a so that goods, for example selling for cents may be vended solely by the pulling of an operation plunger having a short plunger finger such as 13. However, should it be desired to purchase a cent item insertion of a twenty-five cent piece only, will not unlock the mechanism because the longer plunger finger 134: contacts both rocker arm bar 14 and 14a and a five cent piece must be inserted to unlock 13a through the media of blocking cam slot 21a.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the coin selector box 43 (this is shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings) is standard in the art and is not a part of this invention, merely serving to direct larger coins to cam slot 21 and smaller coins to cam slot 2.1a.

It will also be understood that various combinations of coins may be provided for and that the bars 14 and 14a may be multiplied with the provision of more cam bases and their associated mechanisms.

We claim:

1. In a vending machine of the character described, a series of operating plungers having depending fingers of varying length adapted to selectively make contact with and arcuately move one or more pivoted operating bars, cam bases attached to said operating bars and means for translating the arcuate movement of said operating bars into a horizontal movement of said cam bases, cam surfaces on said cam bases and cam interlocking means normally blocking horizontal movement of said cam bases, a coin separator adapted to separate coins of varying denomination and present them to said cam surfaces thereby causing said cam surface to become altered by the introduction of said coins, thus permitting horizontal movement of said cam bases only when said coins are presented to said cam surfaces.

2. In a vending machine of the character described, a series of operating plungers disposed beneath a series of merchandise storage bins, said operating plungers having depending fingers of varying length adapted to make contact with and arcuately move one or more pivotal and tiered operating bars; the selective movement of said operating bars being dependent on the length of said fingers, cam bases attached to said operating bars and means for translating the arcuate movement of said operating bars into a horizontal movement of said cam bases, cam surfaces on said cam bases normally blocking horizontal movement of said cam bases by the interlock of a pivoted cam follower'pin, a coin separator adapted to separate coins of varying denomination and present them to said cam surfaces thereby causing said cam surfaces to become altered by the introduction of said .coins permitting the horizontal movement of said cam bases by said operating plungers only when said coins are presented to said cam surfaces, by the interruption of said interlock.

3. In a vending machine of the character described, a series of operating plungers disposed beneath a series of merchandise storage bins, said operating plungers having depending fingers of varying length adapted to make contact with and arcuately move one or more tiered and pivotal operating bars; the selective movement of said operating bars being dependant on the length of said fingers, cam bases attached to said operating bars and slotted pivotal means for translating the arcuate movement of said operating bars into a horizontal movement of said cam bases, cam surfaces on said cam bases normal- 1y blocking horizontal movement of said carn bases by the interlock of a pivoted cam follower pin, a coin separator adapted to separate coins of varying denomination and present them to said cam surfaces thereby causing said cam surfaces to become altered by the introduction of said coins thus permitting the horizontal movement of said cam bases by said operating plungers only when said coins are presented to said cam surfaces and means for clearing said cam surfaces at the end of the forward travel of said cam bases.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,821,501 DuGrenier Sept. 1, 1931 2,254,841 Gabrielsen Sept. 2, 1941 2,267,144 Steiner Dec. 23, 1941 2,320,378 Neidig June 1, 1943 2,496,443 Caruso Feb. 7, 1950 2,529,196 Stoner Nov. 7, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 475,816 Great Britain Nov. 25, 1937 534,099 Great Britain Feb. 27, 1941 534,298 Great Britain Mar. 4, 1941 671,587 Germany Feb. 10, 1939 

